Diphu, 11 February : Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KNLF) cadres after laying down their arms during a special arms decommissioning ceremony at the Sports Association playground at Diphu in Karbi Anglong district of Assam state about 250 km away from Guwahati.Above 400 KLNLF cadres, including the outfit’s chairman Habe Tokbi have surrendered and entered in to a ceasefire agreement with the government of India. The Public Secretary of KNLF Rajak Dera, told Bengal Newz, ...they will not enter into politics in near future and after this ceasefire all the surrendered rebels will stay in designated camps. န Photos : Chinmoy Roy
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All Tripura Tiger Force insurgents surrender in Tripura
Agartala, 11 February : Three insurgents of outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have surrendered to security forces at Raisyabari, a remote tribal hamlet in Dhalai district, police today said.
Three ultras, identified as Kamal Debbarma, Sukesh Debbarma and Rupendra Tripura surrendered to a team of police of state special branch yesterday unconditionally and did not deposit any arm or ammunition. Police said, the insurgents fled from their camps in Bangladesh and could not bring any arm with them. About four hundred insurgents have surrendered to the security forces in Tripura in last one year.
Agartala, 11 February : Three insurgents of outlawed All Tripura Tiger Force (ATTF) have surrendered to security forces at Raisyabari, a remote tribal hamlet in Dhalai district, police today said.
Three ultras, identified as Kamal Debbarma, Sukesh Debbarma and Rupendra Tripura surrendered to a team of police of state special branch yesterday unconditionally and did not deposit any arm or ammunition. Police said, the insurgents fled from their camps in Bangladesh and could not bring any arm with them. About four hundred insurgents have surrendered to the security forces in Tripura in last one year.
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Buddhadeb assures better facilities to West Bengal police
Kolkata, 11 February : Praising the police force for fighting the secessionist and the extremist forces in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said efforts were on to provide better medical and housing facilities to its personnel.
"The state police have a strong force of 46,000 personnel in addition to 26,000 police personnel of Kolkata Police, but the hospital facility provided is not adequate," he said at the Annual Combined Parade of West Bengal and Kolkata police. "It has been the priority of the state government to provide the best possible treatment to police personnel injured in clashes. We are taking initiatives to develop police hospitals with latest facilities," Bhattacharjee said.
He said their treatment is state government's responsibility and best facility would be provided to them. "We also have a shortage of quarters for the police. We have requested the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to arrange for housing projects so that we can accommodate the force," Bhattacharjee added.
Kolkata, 11 February : Praising the police force for fighting the secessionist and the extremist forces in West Bengal, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee on Thursday said efforts were on to provide better medical and housing facilities to its personnel."The state police have a strong force of 46,000 personnel in addition to 26,000 police personnel of Kolkata Police, but the hospital facility provided is not adequate," he said at the Annual Combined Parade of West Bengal and Kolkata police. "It has been the priority of the state government to provide the best possible treatment to police personnel injured in clashes. We are taking initiatives to develop police hospitals with latest facilities," Bhattacharjee said.
He said their treatment is state government's responsibility and best facility would be provided to them. "We also have a shortage of quarters for the police. We have requested the Kolkata Municipal Corporation to arrange for housing projects so that we can accommodate the force," Bhattacharjee added.
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BNP returns to Bangladesh parliamentDhaka, 11 February : Bangladesh's main opposition BNP and Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami joined the parliament Thursday afternoon after skipping the House for 64 consecutive sittings since last June.
The opposition lawmakers had been boycotting the House proceedings since the second session of parliament--the budget session--in June last year, demanding more seats in the front row for opposition MPs. Later, they added several other demands and asked the speaker and the ruling party to meet the demands for their return to parliament.
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India to expand Railway network along Bangladesh border
Agartala, 11 February : India will extend its railway network to two more places along the India-Bangladesh border by 2014 to improve connectivity between the two countries, it was announced Thursday.
The two border points are Sabroom in southern Tripura and western Tripura's Akhaurah, just six kilometres from the Agartala railway station. Bangladesh operates train services on ots side up to Akhaurah. Train services were resumed in April 2008 between Kolkata and Dhaka. The service was suspended after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan when Bangladesh was then Pakistan's eastern wing.
"By 2014, the ongoing works of railway connection up to bordering town Sabroom would be completed," Northeast Frontier Railway general manager Shiv Kumar told reporters here. He said: "India and Bangladesh have agreed to connect Agartala-Akhaurah by rail line. This would be completed before 2014."
Agartala, 11 February : India will extend its railway network to two more places along the India-Bangladesh border by 2014 to improve connectivity between the two countries, it was announced Thursday.The two border points are Sabroom in southern Tripura and western Tripura's Akhaurah, just six kilometres from the Agartala railway station. Bangladesh operates train services on ots side up to Akhaurah. Train services were resumed in April 2008 between Kolkata and Dhaka. The service was suspended after the 1965 war between India and Pakistan when Bangladesh was then Pakistan's eastern wing.
"By 2014, the ongoing works of railway connection up to bordering town Sabroom would be completed," Northeast Frontier Railway general manager Shiv Kumar told reporters here. He said: "India and Bangladesh have agreed to connect Agartala-Akhaurah by rail line. This would be completed before 2014."
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Journalists assaulted by BCL men at Rajshahi University
Rajshahi, 11 February : At least 10 local journalists and photojournalists were assaulted by the activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League on Rajshahi University campus on Thursday.Photojournalist of the daily Prothom Alo Azaharuddin and the New Age reporter Soumitra Majumdar were admitted to Rajshahi Medical College Hospital. The victims alleged that a group of 20/30 BCL, student wing of ruling Awami League, activists attacked them when they were taking the photographs of an incident where BCL men were beating a RU student suspecting him as a Shibir worker.
BCL men asked the journalists not to take any photograph of the incident. They also damaged the camera of the daily Prothom Alo photojournalist. န Photo : Courtesy
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India to test-fire long-range missile 'Agni-V' 'within a year
BBC News, 11 February : India plans to test-fire a nuclear-capable surface-to-surface ballistic missile with a range of more than 5,000km (3,107 miles) "within a year".
Defence Research and Development Organisation chief VK Saraswat said Agni-V would be able to hit any target in any city in Pakistan or China. Earlier this week, the government announced a successful test of the 3,000km-range Agni-III. The Agni-I has a range of 750km.
Defence Research and Development Organisation chief VK Saraswat said Agni-V would be able to hit any target in any city in Pakistan or China. Earlier this week, the government announced a successful test of the 3,000km-range Agni-III. The Agni-I has a range of 750km.
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Jyoti Basu's life in Chitpore's "Alor Sikha Amar Jyoti" jatra
Kolkata, 11 February : Less than a month after his death, Jyoti Basu's life has become the subject of jatra, West Bengal's popular folk theatre form.Anjali Opera, a 10-year-old troupe based in the city's jatra hub Chitpore, has decided to portray the political life of the leader, who holds the record for the longest chief ministerial tenure in India. The production has been christened "Alor Sikha Amar Jyoti" and will start its shows in East Midnapore district from February end. The troupe will then travel to other districts with the three-hour-long production.
"It is our tribute to Jyoti Basu. I have admired Basu all through my life. It's quite challenging to wrap up Jyoti babu's political life within three hours. But we have to do it. We have already got bookings in Midnapore, Birbhum and many other parts of West Bengal. We have already received a huge response," said Prasanta Goswami, manager, Anjali Opera. He said the idea came up during a discussion at the troupe's office after Jyoti Basu's death.
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BAIRA staffs protests inefficient handling of 'Smart Card'
Dhaka, 11 February : The staff of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) staged demonstration in front of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) in the city Thursday morning in protest against the inefficient handling of smart card.
BAIRA Joint-Secretary Nurul Amin, who took part in the programme, told reporters that the overseas jobseekers are being harassed due to poor service by the insufficient and unskilled manpower of the BMET. He said the BMET had issued around 5,000 immigration clearances per day before introduction of the smart card. But now it is issuing only 200 clearances a day, he added.
Dhaka, 11 February : The staff of Bangladesh Association of International Recruiting Agencies (BAIRA) staged demonstration in front of Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) in the city Thursday morning in protest against the inefficient handling of smart card.
BAIRA Joint-Secretary Nurul Amin, who took part in the programme, told reporters that the overseas jobseekers are being harassed due to poor service by the insufficient and unskilled manpower of the BMET. He said the BMET had issued around 5,000 immigration clearances per day before introduction of the smart card. But now it is issuing only 200 clearances a day, he added.
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Commercial orange farming expanding fast in Bangladesh
BSS, Rangpur, 11 February : Orange farming has been expanding fast in Bangladesh's Panchagarh and Thakurgaon where tea farming has already got a stronger footage bringing huge change in the socio-economic conditions of the people in the two districts.
Presently, there are over 80,000 orange trees in 93 orange orchards occupying 104 hectares of land in four upazilas in Panchagarh and for Thakurgaon the number of such trees is 30,000 in 48 hectares. Besides, concerned agriculture departments and organisations have planted more 10,000 orange plants in the exhibition plots to popularise its large-scale farming, officials said. Around 50 tonnes of orange are now produced annually in the districts and the amount will surely increase by 2011 to meet the local demand, the officials added. Momin Ullah, senior monitoring and evaluation officer of the Orange Development Project, said orange cultivation has bright prospects to change the overall socio-economy in the region.A survey report submitted to the Agriculture Ministry mentioned that huge quantities of oranges have been in production on commercial basis in nearby Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and Shiliguri districts in West Bengal for decades. န File Photos
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Rajshahi city Jamaat Islami ameer held over RU violence
Rajshahi, 11 February : City Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Ataur Rahman was arrested Thursday morning in connection with the two cases filed for Tuesday's violence at Rajshahi University.Police arrested Ataur, also an assistant headmaster of Loknath High School in the city, when he was going to the school, Boalia police chief Jasimuddin, who led the drive, told reporters. He was arrested for his alleged involvement with the RU clashes between Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL) and Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS), the student wings of ruling Awami League and Jamaat respectively, that left one BCL worker dead and hundred others injured.
Police and BCL Rajshahi University unit general secretary on Wednesday filed two cases accusing around 600 Shibir activists in connection with the RU violence.
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